A cover and cutting guide for outlet boxes, and more particularly a cover for outlet boxes containing an electrical device, the cover and cutting guide being provided to protect the electrical device and its wiring during installation of wall covering and wall finishing operations, after which an opening in the wall sheet material can be made in situ to expose the outlet boxes and permit easy remove of the cover and cutting guide after completion.
In commercial construction applications, pre-fabrication of various systems can be useful to lower labor costs, increase productivity, and speed up the construction process. Accordingly, pre-wired electrical systems, wherein wiring, plugs, switches and other devices are pre-wired into outlet boxes, are gaining popularity. These pre-wired outlet boxes and their associated conduits and wiring are installed within the walls, ceilings, floors and other parts of structures. After the conduit and outlet boxes are installed, the studs and joists are normally covered with wall, floor or ceiling covering materials such as drywall, fiber board, plywood, masonry board, lath and plaster, composite sheet material, and other materials. In the application of the sheet material, installers frequently use a router with a small cutting tip to expose openings for outlets by loosely hanging the sheet material in place, punching the router through the sheet material in the general vicinity of the outlet box, and then routing around the outer perimeter of the outlet box to define an opening in the sheet material. In such a way, the sheet material can be loosely installed through a few points to the studs (e.g. with screws), and then the cutouts for the outlet box can be formed in the sheet material with a router, and thereafter, the sheet material can be completely mounted.
A shortcoming of using a router is that if the outlet box is pre-wired and includes switches, electrical outlets and other devices, sometimes the router can cause damage to the switch and/or the wiring contained therein, thereby requiring removal of the sheet material and replacement of the pre-wired outlet box. Also, because the walls of the outlet box are typically used as a guide for the router tip, misalignment and hole oversizing mistakes frequently occurs. Not only is this unsightly, but since building codes are stringent about the presence of oversized gaps between outlet boxes and the wall covering material, these gaps must be repaired.
It is known to use plastic covers to protect switches and outlets from being painted over during painting and other wall treatment, and there are covers which are used to mark the inside surface of the sheet material during installation of the sheet material. There are also rigid covers that are adapted to protect the electrical devices from the jolting impact of a router blade, but these prior rigid covers are not typically adapted to work with a variety different electrical devices (e.g., switches and outlets) in an electrical outlet box, nor do they provide an easy to use and precise cutting guide. Accordingly, there remains a need for outlet covers and cutting guides that are adapted to permit use of routers to cut out openings in sheet material during installation of sheet material over pre-wired outlet boxes.